IBM Managed File Transfer

A while ago on Twitter I had alluded to a new project that I as working on. I had managed to fly the WebSphere MQ nest, after helping to get version 7 out of the door. I was unable to talk about the project i was working on as IBM had not announced the product for all sorts of reasons, mostly ones that could land people in court. However I have now found some time to talk about what I will be up to for the next few months…

IBM recently announced that we are delivering a managed file transfer product, built on top of WebSphere MQ. (see product page here: http://www-306.ibm.com/software/integration/wmq/filetransfer/index.html). The long of the short is that we are delivering a product that will allow the end user to transfer files from A to B using WebSphere MQ as the transport. Some of the features currently in plan are things like scheduling and triggering.

We are working with 2 week iterations, with scrum meetings every day at 10 and yes we stand to try and keep it short, with each team member explaining what work they did yesterday, what work they are doing today, and anything that is blocking their progress. Currently there is a definite line between developers and testers, though not in the “Us vs Them” manner that sometimes exists. I am currently working as a developer, whilst also looking at the performance of our product and I am having a fantastic time. I have not had this much fun at work for ages, and it is showing in the time I am coming to work, and my general happiness around the house when home.

So far things are going very well, I am learning the code base, the team are delivering reguarly fortnightly code drops, which are ready for customer consumption.. On that note we are fully into our Early Access Program (EAP) and are deciding on a per iteration basis if the product should be given to customers. Watch this space for more information on my experience with Agile at IBM….